Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Gratituesday...for my Friend

Did you miss me?

I missed you!

Christmas (and my birthday, which was the 23rd) was wonderful, as always, but I'm still recovering. A holiday "hangover" of sorts, I suppose. All the food, the wine, the relatives, the spending...it can get a bit exhausting. I figured I get back to some kind of normal with a Tuesday Gratituesday post.

Do those of you who have blogs like mine, with your full name and picture plastered all over it for all to see, ever wish you had an anonymous one? I sure do. Especially on days like today, when I'd really like to vent here about certain people who are driving me crazy. But I digress. I'm supposed to be talking about what I'm grateful for, right? So here it is.

I'm grateful for Jesus.

I mean really, really grateful. For so many reasons (the least of which being that dying for me thing) I am so glad I know Him.

When I am feeling really challenged by the people in my life, I know I can turn to Him, and He will be there, my steadfast Friend. He is never too busy or stressed to listen to me. He always keeps His cool and His sense of humor. His patience never ends, and He never tires of my complaints or poor jokes.

When I have been really down, and I mean down, I have been given the good sense and the grace to turn to Him. Like everybody else on the planet, I've had some real lows. When I mentally list them (I can't reveal them all here - remember - that anonymity thing?) I am sometimes overcome by how absolutely horrid some of the things I've gone through have been. Can you think of some times like that in your life? I know you can.

And then I remember what Jesus did for me during those times. He reached down (way down) to my level and hoisted me up. He kept me going. He was my brother and my friend.

Things will go well, and things will go off track. Today I'm thankful that where ever I'm at on that path, Jesus is right there beside me.

I've got much to be thankful for.

So I'm going to visit my Friend. He's waiting for me at my local church every Tuesday, all day (something else to be immensely grateful for.) Is He waiting for a visit from you, too? Go say hi. You won't ever regret it.

6 comments:

I too am grateful for Jesus. I am grateful for his many, many graces that get me sometimes from point a to b when I don't think I can make it.

Today, right at this moment I so needed your thoughts. It's hard to not want to go off sometimes when I'm thinking about a post, but I know God's grace pulls us back and helps us re-think what HE wants of us, what HIS Blessed Mother wants of us.

First I would like to say that I have thought many times about creating an anonymous blog for all my vents and complaints, but I don't. I need more practice at bringing my sorrows to our Lord.I need more practice at bringing my happiness and my whole being to our Lord, your post was awesome as usual. Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy Birthday!

I am actually amazed at my good spirits right now, but then I guess you can't really plan for sad/angry/frustrating times can you?

I actually thought of Jesus on my run today. I was listening to the song "Love the one you're with" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. For some reason I just think of Jesus and all the others. It lifts me up. I'm sure it was not meant to have that sort of meaning, but I'm choosing to go that way ;)

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.